July 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. insurance industry told
Senators that a surge in weather-related catastrophes has forced
billions of dollars in payouts, offering an assessment at odds
with Republicans who have expressed doubt about global warming.

The Reinsurance Association of America, which represents
companies such as Swiss Re Ltd. and Munich Re, today urged
Congress to have federal agencies consider climate risk in
project reviews, and offer tax incentives to help homeowners
prepare for severe hurricanes, floods, droughts and fires.

“The industry is at great financial peril if it does not
understand global and regional climate impacts, variability and
developing scientific assessment of a changing climate,”
Franklin Nutter, president of the association, said in testimony
to the Senate Environment and Public Works committee. “We are
committed to work with you to address the exposure of citizens
and their property to extreme weather risk.”

The affect of these weather events is exacerbated by the
growth in population and building in coastal and rural areas, he
said.

The group was the one industry voice among a panel of
experts discussing global warming at the hearing. Republicans
questioned whether global warming is happening, if man-made
emissions of greenhouse gases is causing weather changes and if
the costs of trying to address carbon emissions is worth it.

Jobs Talks

“What we need to talk about is jobs,” said Senator John
Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican. Democrats and President Barack
Obama “are willing to bet the economy today on an uncertain”
prediction “about the future,” he said at the hearing.

Barrasso objected to Obama’s pledge to use executive powers
to develop regulations that would limit greenhouse-gas emissions
from coal-fired power plants and eliminate U.S. support for coal
projects built in poor nations. Those efforts will raise the
cost of energy and could put coal producers out of business, and
lead to a loss in jobs, he said.

Saying science had put to rest the question about whether
the planet is warming, Obama argued that limiting emissions
would spur technological advancement and new jobs.

“I don’t have much patience for anyone that denies that
this challenge is real,” Obama said June 25 at Georgetown
University.

Republicans took issue with that statement today. While
most climate researchers say the science is settled that
greenhouse-gas emissions are causing global warming, Senator
David Vitter of Louisiana said the climate is always changing,
and that solar flares, natural emissions of carbon dioxide or
cosmic rays may be the cause of current weather patterns.

Congress’s Control

“The climate has always and will always be changing
because there are influences on our climate that will always be
outside Congress’s control,” Vitter said.

As a week-long heatwave pushed Washington’s temperatures
today to near a high for the year, Democratic lawmakers said
they weren’t sure what kind of evidence would persuade
Republicans that global warming is real.

“I don’t know what it will take to convince you of what is
going on outside the window,” California Democrat Barbara
Boxer, the chairman of the panel, said.